ONE of the country’s leading actors has returned to his old school to give pupils a professional masterclass.

Ralf Little, who left Bolton School in 1988, has become a household name after starring in situation comedies including The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

As part of the class Ralf handed the boys three script extracts from television, film and theatre to enable them to pore over them and to interpret them individually.

The TV script was from an episode of the Royle Family where mum Barbara had just cut husband Jim’s hair.

A film clip was also shown from 24 Hour Party People, in which Ralf played Peter Hook, Joy Division’s bassist.

The theatre script was from Ugly Lies the Bone, a play written by Ralf’s New York-based girlfriend Lindsey Ferrentino.

The boys were then asked to perform the different scenes in their own style.

A Bolton School spokesman said the visit from the famous former student had been enjoyed by pupils.

He said: “Ralf provided advice for the boys, including writing about what they knew for a drama to work. He congratulated the boys on making the lines work, adding he had seen plenty of professional actors who couldn’t read scripts as well for the first time.

“He was particularly impressed with their ability to interpret character as the character names had been stripped from the documents.

In the evening Ralf also delivered the Tillotson lecture to an audience of pupils, parents, teachers former pupils and friends of the school.

Ralf said: “This is my first ‘official’ visit to Bolton School in almost 20 years.

“It is an extraordinary school.

“I was aware that it was 20 years ago when I was here, but I can see that astonishing progress has been made with the building of the arts centre and that the opportunities, support and facilities for pupils is even better than in my day.

“The arts are clearly burgeoning here.”